Guitar Hero Guru / MLIW / Top 200 - 175 Metal Albums

I used to be a drummer. I even wrote a poem in college called "Damned Drummer" that talked about what it was like for me to sit in a class and tap my hands while listening to a professor. I started lessons in 1980 and, I admit, I didn't practice nearly as much as I should have practiced. I didn't want to learn the rudiments and if I got through one of my exercises in my book, I was happy, even though my teacher would write "play 10 times" to encourage me to practice. Didn't work - I still neglected my practice time. This is a youtube vid of a guy who took all the practice time I neglected, changed to guitar and went to town. I am in awe.

By the way, I've tried Guitar Hero and, well, I'm sticking to drums. I don't have the patience to learn guitar. I have tried it a couple of times. I learned the beginning part of Rush's "Closer to the Heart" on a Saturday AM when the wife and kids were gone but it was a) the easy version and b) I couldn't play with any fluidity. I have since tried GH at Best Buy and it was embarrassing.

In Other News...

Modern Life is War is calling it a day after being on the road and playing together, according to their Myspace page, Apr 26 2008, @ 6:00P @ the Moose Lodge in Marshalltown, Iowa, is their last show. They are playing Iowa City on a Tuesday night - yeah, that's really practical for a working man to make - so I guess I'll never see them live. Oh well. Their music on their Myspace page is, well, average. There's a lot of aggression, which is usually pretty good. They just don't trip my trigger, though. If you are compelled to do so, you may read about them on the Lala website.

Finally...

I used to buy Hit Parader when I was younger to read all about the bands I liked. I rarely missed an issue though, over the years, I've whittled my entire collection to a single 'metal lyrics' issue with lyrics from Dokken, Whitesnake, G-n-R, Poison, and others, if that tells you anything about the era in which I grew up. Well, my friend Phil sent me a note today about Hit Parader's current issue about the "200 Metal CDs You Can't Live Without." I'm already skeptical when I see the cover because it has pictures of Slipknot, Korn, and Aerosmith - three artists I don't consider in my head to be on my list. In fact, tonight, I wrote up a list. I couldn't come up with 200 'metal' CDs. Even though it is my favorite genre, my tastes cross over into other genres. I like Billy Joel's "Glass Houses" and Spitafield's "Remember Right Now" and neither of those releases are metal. So here's my 25 favorite metal CDs. My criteria to make the list:
a) currently own it
b) currently can listen to the CD repeatedly without getting tired or bored listening to it
c) each song must be one I like in some way. This is a tricky criteria. I like, for example, Megadeth's "Cryptic Writings" but I don't like "The Disintigrators" and "She-Wolf." Never have. That excluded that release from my list. These are NOT in order.

When applicable, I've included a link to my review of the release in the pages of Dailyvault.com.

1. Megadeth - Rust in Peace


2. Slayer - South of Heaven


3. Pantera - Vulgar Display of Power


4. Metallica - And Justice for All


5. Metallica - Master of Puppets


6. Disarray - In the Face of the Enemy


7. Anthrax - Among the Living


8. Ozzy Osbourne - The Ultimate Sin


9. Black Sabbath - Paranoid


10. Guns-in-Roses - Appetite for Destruction


11. Dokken - Under Lock and Key


12. Destroyer - KISS


13. The Privilege of Power - Riot


14. AC/DC - Back in Black


15. Motley Crue = Shout at the Devil


16. Archetype - Fear Factory


17. Sacrament - Lamb of God


18. Love at First Sting - Scorpions


19. Dangerous Toys (self-titled debut)


20. Queensryche - Operation Mindcrime
21. Ratt - Out of the Cellar
22. Rush - Moving Pictures
23. Sepultura - Chaos A.D.
24. White Lion - Mane Attraction
25. Judas Priest - Painkiller

WAIT!! What about Aerosmith? What about Korn? What about Led Zeppelin? What about Deftones or Van Halen? Finally, what about Deep Purple or Sevendust? Not me. I might appreciate their music, in the case of LZ and VH and would enjoy seeing them in concert. Die-hard fan that breathes and lives for their music like a lunatic? Nah, that's not me.

This just in from Hit Parader re: the next Metallica release:
"As word about more and more songs begins to “leak” out from Metallica’s latest recording sessions, one fact has become abundantly clear; despite their stated desire to “experiment” with their current batch of tunes, for the most part the material has “Classic Metallica” stamped all over it. While some long-time fans may want to draw instant comparisons to past band magnum opuses such as ...And Justice for All and the legendary “black” album, the group members themselves aren’t so sure. “These songs have a quality all their own,” said guitarist Kirk Hammett. “There are definitely elements that people will relate to as being Metallica, but there is definitely something different going on here.”